Work machines, such as cold planers and the like are used in road construction and pavement resurfacing. During road construction cold planers operate along a roadway or other paved surface to remove at least a portion of the existing pavement and provide a smooth level surface for the new pavement. However, some cold planers are not configured to be driven long distances on highways, expressways, or other such roadways, and as a result these cold planers may need to be independently transported from one work site to another work site. For example, a cold planer may be loaded onto a trailer and transported to the work site by a truck, locomotive or other such transport vehicle. Additionally, some cold planers, may be too large to transport on a single transport vehicle. As a result, the cold planer may be partially disassembled with the individual components loaded onto multiple transport vehicles and transported to the desired location.
During transportation, the individual components of the cold planer may need to comply with certain shipping and transportation regulations. For example, shipments transported over highways, expressways and other roadways may be subject to maximum weight, maximum height, maximum width, maximum length, or other such transportation regulations. Therefore, each component of the cold planer may need to be loaded onto a trailer or other transport vehicle and oriented to comply with the various transportation regulations. In some situations the cold planer components, such as but not limited to, the rotor assembly, may be too large (i.e., over the maximum width and maximum length limits) to comply with all of the transportation regulations. As a result, these non-compliant components may require a special permit in order to transport the components using standard transportation routes along highways, expressways, or other such roadways. Alternatively, the non-compliant components may need to be further disassembled in order to comply with the transportation regulations.
A construction machine for the milling of road surfaces is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,644,994 entitled, “Construction Machine for Machining Floor Surfaces,” (the '994 patent). The construction machine disclosed therein is equipped with exchangeable tools for removing road surfaces. At the end of their serviceable life, the exchangeable tools arranged around the machine must be replaced with new tools. To facilitate the replacement of the exchangeable tools, the '994 patent further includes a controllable auxiliary drive that is coupled to the main drive line of the construction machine. The auxiliary drive positions a work drum of the machine in a raised position so that the exchangeable tools are disengaged with the ground surface. Additionally, the auxiliary drive is able to rotate and advance the work drum so a next row of exchangeable tools can be positioned in a convenient mounting position for the operator performing the exchangeable tool replacement.
While arguably effective for the replacement of the exchangeable tools, the '944 patent does not provide an adjustable rotor assembly which complies with transportation restrictions and therefore allows transportation of the rotor assembly without the need for special permitting.